Central City - Medicine Man ... Gator

[Tony]

A large, burly crocodile stood on a busy streetcorner, watching the traffic barrel down endlessly through the streets of Central City. In his hands, he held a large newspaper, though it looks about a week old. However, it must have been slightly important, as he was flipping through the pages pretty quickly with his broad hands... "Bagh... Where -is- it? I know I saw the dang thing in here..."

He sighed in aggravation, before passing the slightly-wrinkled mess of paper to his companion, Charmy, who was -also- with him on this hot and busy day. "-You- look now."

He stretched, and crossed his arms, tapping a foot as he waited for his bee friend to search for their goal in the columns of black text. "We gotta find that ad in the paper that belonged to the pharmacy so we can get the address, and mosey on over there! The faster we get to it, the faster Espio can stop being a whiny butt about his being sick all the time..."

He gave the bee a slightly irritated glance. "And try not to make a paper hat outta that this time, alright?"

[Stoney]

Charmy looked indignant. "I wasn't gonna make anything like that!" He protested, seeming quite offended by the accusation.

The moment Vector turned his back, the bee glanced around warily before removing the newspaper from behind his back and smoothing out the creases he'd made. "It was gonna be a big crane," He mumbled to himself.

Now forced to use the paper properly, Charmy studied it...for all of thirty seconds. Then he grew bored and began reading the Comics section.

"Ahahaha! 'Daddy, will you please move the sun?' That never gets old!"

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ Meanwhile, a young chameleon meandered the crossroad to the same intersection, his wide eyes excitedly soaking in his environment. It wasn't that he'd never seen a city before, he just hadn't seen one in so long. Plus, this place had some things he couldn't remember ever being in Mercia!

Espio paused as he passed a wide window, turning and peering inside. Once he realized what was going on inside, he quickly pressed his hands to the glass longingly; the chameleon had happened by an arcade. VIDEO GAMES. He let out an agonized sigh. As he had snuck out of the G.U.N. base rather than been authorized to leave, he didn't even have a single ring. Letting out a disappointed whine, Espio tore himself away from the window and continued on toward the upcoming crossroad.

[Tony]

((OOC: Collab post between myself and the talented-a Miz Leda~))



Vector rolled his eyes as he turned his back to the bee. No, he was not deaf. He knew that the little guy was busy perusing through the comics, and not the classifieds. The crocodile sighed a bit, and looked forward towards the busy street in front of him... He suddenly realized that he was not sure what time it was. He could sense as somebody took the position on the street corner next to him. Vector smiled, and leaned a little to his left. "Ah, pardon me, mister sir-man. Do you have the time, by any chance?"


@satamespio@

Espio glanced up -- way up, as it turned out -- at the imposing crocodile next to him. A bright smile followed. "Sorry!" he replied. "I don't even have a watch!"




Vector looked at the bright young youth, and smiled. "Oh, that's alright. Thanks anyway, Espio." He then resumed his lookout towards the traffic in the street.

...

But then it hit him.

"... Waitaminute." His huge reptilian snout got right into Espio's face, and the croc held this position for a few more minutes, -blinking- repeatedly. "... Espio?! What're you doing out of bed?! You're -sick-! ... And something else seems different about you. ... Did you do your hair behind my back again?"

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ The chameleon blinked in surprised and found his back pressed to the crosswalk post as Vector invaded his space. Unlike his counterpart, there as no sign of claustrophobic panic. "Um.... I feel fine. And I don't have hair."

[Stoney]

((OOC: ANOTHER COLLAB POST WITH LEDA. 'Cause they're fun. ;3))




Naturally, considering Charmy's attention span, it really wasn't long at all before he ceased looking at the newspaper entirely and noticed their new arrival.

"Hey, wow! You got better quick! That's awesome Espio!" Charmy zipped into excited circles around Espio's head, carelessly tossing the newspaper aside...in such a way that it wound up landing on the chameleon's face.



Letting out a bemused chuckle, Espio half-heartedly shielded his face from the buzzing bee and did his best to follow Charmy's movements. "Wow, you're pretty fast!! Doesn't that make you diz--" Newspaper, meet horn. ".... I think you dropped this."





Charmy continued his rapid one-sided conversation, ignoring everything Espio said. "Let's go play somewhere! I hear they got the new Banned Virismo at the arcade! It's like the bestest best racing game EVER!" He halted his flight suddenly and hovered before the other two, holding his hands out as if gripping an invisible steering wheel. "It's all LOL U SUK UR FUTER DREM WIL NEVR HAPPN and you're all SCREW YOU NOOB so you drift around a corner and it goes SCREEEE and you're like HOLY CRAP and you K-CHUNK the gearshift and it goes ZOOOM and you're all WHEEEEEEE until you crash in a big KABOOOOOOOOM!"

Charmy fingered his chin in sudden contemplation. "They never got all the translation issues worked out though...the game's English isn't that good."

Pause.

"BUT THAT'S OKAY BECAUSE IT'S TOTALLY AWESOME!" And he returned to hyping the game with overenthusiastic glee for a couple more minutes, finally ending with, "SO CAN WE GO PLAY IT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE?"

[Leedzie]

The arcade? INVITATION TO THE ARCADE?! That was all it took to grab Espio's attention, and as Charmy's description carried on, the chameleon visibly got more and more excited. This sounded like a MUCH better game than what he had on that salvaged console back at home! "That sounds GREAT!!" the teenage lizard exclaimed, practically shaking with enthusiasm. "I wanna go, I wanna go!!...."

All of a sudden the boy wilted. "Wait... I forgot, I don't have any money." He let out a wistful sigh, then quickly picked himself back up. "But, if you know anything fun to do that's free, I'm game!!" Holding out his hand confidently to whichever two of the Chaotix wanted to shake it, the chameleon announced, "I'm Espio! What're your names?" Indeed, in the chaos of the moment, he hadn't taken note of the fact that each of them had addressed him by name.

[Tony]

"... ... ..."

Wait a second. Did he... hear that correctly? Did Espio just ask them.... did he just ask them what their -names- were?

Uh oh... Vector thought to himself. If he doesn't even -remember- who we are... Then he's probably feelin' a lot worse than he's lettin' on! Ooer, this is -bad-! He probably has insomnia, or whatever it's called... Screw getting him medicine; We gotta take him to a -doctor-!

Vector stood tall, and walked over to Espio, grabbing him by the back of his neck, and hoisting him up into the air. "Sorry, chum! But it looks like you have a doctor's appointment scheduled, first! No friend of ours is gonna go to the arcade while sick with insomnia! Let's g--"




"KUROKODAIRU!!!!!!"*

*"Crocodile!"

Suddenly, a portal opened up further down the street, and out came flying this -enraged- looking monkeybot. With a glare in his eyes, he practically shot down the sidewalk much like a -rocket- would, heading right towards Vector. But -millimeters- from hitting the crocodile... the monkeybot vanished within another portal that appeared mere inches from his face, vanishing as soon as it appeared.




". . ."

Vector just... -stood- there... For a few moments, he just -stood- there, wondering what the -frig- just happened. Another moment or so passed before he finally shook the vapors from his head, and shrugged, crossing the street in the direction (or, rather, in the hopefully-right direction) of the nearest medical clinic.

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ All of a sudden the big bad croc had lifted Espio into the air -- and done so by his neck. All at once the fun of the moment drained from the chameleon's face and he began thrashing frantically, his last frightening run-in with strangers from this world still fresh in his mind. "H-H-Hey!! L-Lemme down!!" the teen called shrilly, fighting for freedom against Vector's massive fist.

And then.... monkeybot arrival and departure. Espio paused utterly and blinked. "...What the hell was THAT?!"

[Stoney]

Charmy forgot all about Espio's strange behavior the moment the FLYING MONKEYBOT appeared. And then disappeared. Like some sort of monkey-ghost.

It managed to do what no other act of restraint had managed so far; it got Charmy to stand still.

He gawked at where the purple simian had been, jaw hanging slack.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...COOL!" He began tugging insistently on Vector's arm. "HEy VECTOR, HEY HEY! DID YOU KNOW THAT GUY? DO YOU KNOW HOW HE DID THAT? CAN YOU TEACH ME TOO? I WANNA BE ABLE TO DO THAT! THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! C'MON VEC, TEACH ME, TEACH ME, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE"

[Tony]

Vector shrugged in response to Espio's WHAT THE HELL outburst. "I haven't the slightest, my sickly little friend." He paused and glanced over to the little bee who was starting to even make -Vector- stagger a bit from his excited tugging. "Knock it -off-, Charmy..! I can't teach you to do that! And even if I could, I would only have suicide in my mind if I decided to give you lessons on it!"

He glanced down at the chameleon in his hand, and smirked. "Don't worry, Espio! We'll get you to the doctor's place, and get you fixed up as good as new! Your memory, too! We'll get everything back! Just leave it to us! ... Come on, Charmy, make yourself more useful than a square wheel, and help us out here! Fly ahead and see if you can't find the doctor's building..."

And onwards the crocodile continued to stroll, still with the defiant chameleon in his hands. He wasn't prepared to let go anytime soon, in any case.

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ "W-Wait a minute!!" Espio stuttered as he continued to squirm against the croc. "Let go of me!! I'm not who you think I am, I'm from Mobius!!" The chameleon's heart began thumping hard in his chest; how did he keep encounting people that knew that stuffy other version of him, and why did they all want to manhandle him? The teen vanished from view, though Vector could probably feel him beginning to tremble against his palm. "LET ME DOWN!!!"

[Stoney]

Charmy looked UTTERLY DEVASTATED at the news that he would not be learning the Random Portal Lunge Attack any time soon, if ever. He hung his head and went limp in the air, as he issued a piteous, "Aw maaaaaaan...!"

His head jerked up as he was given new orders. More work? Darn it. But then again, at least it was something to do...

Charmy promptly gave an over-exaggerated salute. "Yes sir!" He zipped off ahead of them...only to make a 90-degree turn as he passed the arcade. He pressed his face up against the windows like Espio had...except he wasn't content to stare forlornly, and began making silly-looking squished faces up against the glass.

...Someone needs to get this kid some Ritalin.

[Tony]

Vector's crocodilian strength gave way for no man! Er... in this case, chameleon. Still restraining the spazzy reptile, the croc plodded on... grabbing at the helemted head of the ever-exciteable bee, and yanking him from the window of the arcade. He almost chucked the insect into the air towards the streetcorner. "Hurry up, and -go-, already! We can play games later! Espio's health is at stake, ya know?!"

Assuming the bee flew off to take care of the task that had already been set for him, the scaly detective would amble right after him, like a hunter with his bloodhound. ... A bloodhound with ADD, but... you get the idea.

"And fer pete's sake, will ya stop squirming around, Espio?! You're not gonna help your health by jerkin' around like that!" It was then that a sudden realization hit him. It seemed to have taken a lot longer than one normally would expect, but the key thing that had been subconciously bugging the crocodile since he had seen Espio had finally hit him, and he stopped on the spot.

He blinked, and held up the invisible form, presumeably face-to-face, and took a moment before speaking. "... Tell me, did you happen to take off a few years on your age meter or something?"

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ "I TOLD YOU!!!" he yelled more loudly than he had intended. His colours dripped back into view, revealing a less squirmy, though still struggling, teenaged chameleon. "I already said I'm not that grumpy old jerk that lives here!! I live on Mobius!!" Espio scowled, and did his best to look menacing, but his shaking was clearly obvious even to one that didn't have ahold of him. "SO LET ME DOWN, OR..... OR.... YOU'LL BE SORRY!!"

[Stoney]

The bee gave the biggest pout in the history of the planet and heaved a sigh that could knock over cattle at ten paces as he reluctantly parted ways with the ever-so-tempting arcade. He silently vowed to finish this task as quickly as possible so he could take Vector up on his promise of later playtime.

Before Vector had even asked his question, Charmy had zipped straight up into the air and out of earshot, deciding to scope out the area from above. He put his full attention towards hovering in place and slowly rotating 360 degrees as he looked for...

...Actually, he had no idea what he was looking for. How could he find the pharmacy without knowing what it looked like?

Scrunching his mouth to the side in a ":/" expression, Charmy began wandering through the air while continuing to look all around, hoping to find a giant neon sign with a medicine bottle or something equally noticeable that would tell him he'd found the right place.

Instead, what he DID find after about a minute or so of searching was the local elementary school's playground. He promptly forgot all about what he was supposed to be doing. Again.

[Tony]

Vector stared at the bodily form of nothing that he held in his gigantic hands. To be honest, he probably looked absolutely rediculous to any passerby, who, upon seeing the crocodile, would keep a safe distance and then hastily be on their way. Then the colors drained back into the chameleon, and Vector gave him a good look-over while he still struggled and complained. Quite a few things did not make sense here. He was -really- young... He mentioned an odd foreign-sounding place deemed -Mobious-... And he called, what was apparently the -real- Espio, a grumpy old jerk, who--

Oh, wait, he realized. That part's true.

He shook his head, and set the young chameleon down onto the pavement. Getting onto one knee, he bent low to Espio's height, and stared him straight in the face. "Arright, pal. It would be most helpful if you could explain who you are, what you're doing here, and, if you have an answer for this, who sent ye?!" He paused, and looked to and fro. "... where the heck did Charmy get to now...?"

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ As soon as his shoes came in contact with the pavement, Espio attempted to bolt away -- and simply ended up clotheslining himself, as Vector kept a firm grip on the chameleon's left arm. The teen let out a yelp as he nearly dislocated his own shoulder. A chill ran down his back when he realized his freedom appeared to be in peril yet again. Ironically enough, Espio briefly thought over how much more dangerous this new dimension was versus his own war-torn home.

"Let GO!!!" Espio bleated while thrashing fiercely. His heart had begun to pound rapidly in his chest at the idea of a second incident echoing the one at the mansion. "I didn't do anything and I swear I'm not GOING to do anything and I just wanna go home so LET ME GO OR THOSE GUYS WITH THE BIG GUNS WILL LET YOU HAVE IT BECAUSE THEY'RE PROBABLY OUT LOOKING FOR ME SINCE I GOT LOST!!!"[rand=353203533709392652941983152598462905795882457783403808587400436325]

[Tony]

Vector sighed, and tried to bring the chameleon close to him so that he could get a word in edgewise, before he started gaining public attention from the crowd... "Hey! Kid that looks like Espio! I'm not gonna -hurt- you! Just calm down! I want to know what's goin' on here. It would definitely help clear up some things for me..." He tried to pat the young Espio's shoulder without knocking him flat. "C'mon, chill out! We can find Charmy and then go get a burger somewhere, and talk about what's going on over lunch. What do you say?"

[Leedzie]

@satamespio@ Espio cowered and recoiled as the crocodile pulled him near, in some ways expecting to find another gun pressed against his head. But that never happened, and Vector went on to point out that he did not intend him any harm. The teen finally turned and looked into the Chaotix's long face, his own still visibly apprehensive. There was a part of himself -- the newly aquired sense of caution, to be sure -- that insisted that this croc shouldn't be trusted, but if he'd wanted to hurt him he probably would've done it by now. Harper sure hadn't wasted any time in letting him know his place.

Then again, this person was offering food. Harper hadn't even been willing to offer a toilet. With a slight gulp, Espio eventually replied with, "...I like burgers..."

[Tony]

Vector beamed. "Great! So do I! I know of a place that sells the best! C'mon, food helps conversation! ... But before we go, I better go find Charmy..." He glanced around, and frowned. "This is gonna be a nightmare to figure out..."

[Stoney]

Meanwhile, three blocks south-southwest, a bee was creating entire cities in the playground's sandbox and promptly using them to re-enact his favorite moments from the Godzilla movies.

"And then the airstrike was called in!" He narrated, making use of some vehicular toys one of the kids had allowed him to borrow. He maneuvered the plastic jet through the air, making engine noises with his lips. "But this wasn't any old airstrike, oh no! It was TYRANNOSAURS IN F-14s!!!"

"This is so awesome," The yellow-haired boy sitting next to him grinned. He was using two other toys to act out a mid-air plane crash over the Grand Canyon.

"This is so stupid," The tall tiger cub next to him shot back. "I wanna go home and watch the Discovery Channel."

"You can't." The boy's face darkened considerably. "The TV was stolen, remember?"

The tiger blinked a couple times. "Oh yeah...darn."

Charmy looked up from his latest attack on Tokyo Tower. "What about that red wagon you guys mentioned? The one that can fly through space?"

Both of the other kids looked surprised at the bee's memory. "Hey, yeah. We could go for a ride!" The boy perked up. "Good idea, Charms. Wanna come along?"

Charmy grinned. "Sure! But, uh...what about class?" He eyed the large and wrinkly teacher at the school entrance who was giving a verbal tongue lashing to what appeared to be a six-year-old with facial hair.

The boy scoffed. "They can present the material, but they can't make me care. Moe's got her distracted; let's hurry before she catches us! Oh, and don't forget my toys!"

The three gathered the plastic vehicles with haste and darted off together.